TORRINGTON >> Litchfield County will soon be overrun with giant model trains. In Torrington, Litchfield, Winsted and throughout Litchfield County, these five-foot-long and three-foot-high trains—large enough to fit a person—will grace the outside of local businesses. Each train will have a unique design or theme, chosen by a sponsor and painted by a local artist.

This collaborative, known as All Aboard Litchfield County, is primarily to promote tourism and showcase local artists as well as build a sense of community between the bordering towns. KidsPlay Children’s Museum in Torrington and the Northwest Connecticut Chamber Education Foundation are working in tandem on the project.

The hope is that each train will be sponsored by a local group, for the price of $1,500. Signing a check for the caboose or engine of a company’s choice buys them the ability to have their company promoted in all online, printed, television or radio advertisements for All Aboard Litchfield County. They’ll also be given four tickets to the November auction, a half-page ad in the auction program guide and the opportunity to purchase the finished product for an additional $1,500.

The trains will be on display from August until October. During that time, Litchfield County residents will get the chance to take part in a scavenger hunt. If a local visits every train and marks it down, he or she will be eligible for prizes come auction time in November. The auction will be held in the space next to KidsPlay museum on 69 Main St., which KidsPlay recently took ownership of.

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Each company or group that sponsors a train will have their name displayed on the plaque that each engine or caboose sits on. The trains are, according to a flier for the fundraiser, “made from a fiberglass-polyester resin mix that is strong enough to withstand normal wear and tear. The outer surface is primed white and given to artists to create their masterpieces.”

“This is a wonderful opportunity to both promote and honor trains and benefit a terrific children’s museum and educational organization,” Barry Cone, honorary chairperson for this year’s project wrote via email.

As of Friday, many of the trains sat in the showroom besides KidsPlay in Torrington. Artist Carol Lee H. Jarvis was hard at work Friday afternoon, putting the finishing touches on the engine and caboose of her patriotic “Declaration” train which is red, white and blue. Amongst an array of stars, the word “Liberty” adorns the back.

Seated in that room, a paintbrush in hand, Jarvis was surrounded by finished and unfinished train cars.

“I love seeing the different ideas,” she said. “You’ve got one medium basically that is transformed into all these different, beautiful ideas.”

Jarvis was around on Thursday night, when the train showroom was open to the public during Torrington’s Main Street Marketplace. She said one woman stopped by and mentioned that this was good: she now had an excuse to make her husband drive her all around the county.

“It gets the whole community involved,” Jarvis said. “It’s really neat to be a part of.”

The Winchester Economic Development Commission has sponsored one of the trains, and hopes to raise the money to eventually purchase it so it can stay in Winsted.

“EDC is very happy to be a part of this program,” Gina Sartirana, vice chairman of the Winchester EDC said. “We are hoping to secure the funding so we can keep the train indefinitely. We’re happy to just be a part of the fundraising program. Anything that can help the community and the surrounding towns is our mission.”

Winsted’s train is especially captivating. Painted by Kate Boiczyk, the piece is a train-shaped mural of the town of Winchester. The town seal, round and red, is on the front, with a rendition of the local Soldiers’ Monument atop it. Town Hall is depicted, as is the dive into Highland Lake. A town map is drawn onto the back.

Each train has a story. One is painted, top to bottom to mirror Van Gogh’s Starry Night. Another, depicting several local landscapes was painted by seven students from the Glenholme School in Washington Depot.

In 2010, the Northwest Connecticut Chamber Education Foundation organized a similar fundraiser with fiberglass bears, this time in coordination with LARC. The Register Citizen was among those to purchase a bear, which was dubbed “Cub Reporter.” The bear remains in the Citizen’s newsroom. It is modeled after Jimmy Olsen, a young reporter from the “Superman” comics, donning hard-rim glasses, a white shirt and blue jeans.